Mendocino County Supervisors approve bag ban for restaurants too

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a measure to include restaurants in a ban on one-time-use plastic bags that had previously not applied to plastic takeout bags.

Restaurants had not been included in the plastic bag ban for legal reasons, but Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority General Manager Mike Sweeney urged the board to change the ordinance it adopted in 2012 to include them after the California Appellate Court found recently that state law doesn't trump local regulation of the takeout bags.

After the board adopted the ordinance with the amendments to its 2012 plastic bag ban, the changes will take effect 180 days after a second reading, which will likely appear on a future board meeting agenda on a list of items approved as a block because they aren't expected to be controversial.

Board chairman 3rd District Supervisor John Pinches was the sole dissenter in the 4-1 vote.

"I had some reservations about the original bag ordinance," Pinches said. "I have some real problems with it, because since this was talked about several months ago -- maybe up to a year or longer than a year -- I've asked a lot of people who work in the restaurant industry -- all the way from lay persons to cooks to owners of restaurants -- and ... they're adamantly opposed to this, because ... (of) the health issues."

He said water shortages make it difficult enough for restaurants to meet dishwashing and hand washing requirements, "so to add something about somebody throws a carry out bag over the counter and says, hey, put my hamburger and fries in this,' creates a real problem.... I just don't know if it's going to work."

According to a memo to the board from Sweeney, "The First Appellate District of the State Court of Appeal upheld San Francisco's regulation of restaurant takeout bags and also found that local bag ordinances qualify for categorical exemption under CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act)."

Second District Supervisor John McCowen said the changed ordinance won't require consumers to bring their own reusable bags, and noted in Sweeney's staff report that most major fast-food restaurants had already switched to using paper bags.

Fifth District Supervisor Dan Hamburg agreed with a speaker who said Styrofoam carry out containers should also be banned because they don't break down easily and cause an environmental hazard.

"When people see paper, they tend to put it into their recycle bin, and it ends up going to the transfer station and being dealt with properly, whereas plastic bags end up in the landfill," Hamburg said.

Answering Pinches' concerns, 1st District Supervisor Carre Brown referred to Sweeney's report on how the plastic bag ban applies to restaurant takeout food, as opposed to grocers and retailers, which are required to charge at least 10 cents per paper bag sold to a consumer who doesn't have reusable bags.

"The minimum 10-cent charge per paper bag is waived," Sweeney's report said. "This was done in recognition of the reality that 1) restaurant takeout customers are less likely to be carrying their reusable shopping bags with them; 2) leaks of takeout food into reusable bags may discourage their further use; and 3) customer attempts to avoid paying the 10-cent bag fee could result in unfortunate dropping of food order items, particularly in situations like items being handed out of a drive-up window."

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.